Getting stoned with beryl & aquamarine

Beryl is a gemstone that ranges in color from pale blue to white, while aquamarine does not range and has its namesake color. Pliny in his Natural History described the beryl of first order as “pure green of the sea” which a translator’s note calls mountain-green and the beryl of fifth order as "aeroides" which Webster’s dictionary defines as sky-blue. Jewelers oft mistaken the two beryls, one owing its color to oxide of chrome and the other to oxide of iron; however, both are from the smaragdine family and found in places where emeralds can be found: Siberia, India, and Brazil. Aquamarine has been revered in the West as the birthstone for March since 1912 and has the reputation in the East as the gemstone of purity; for these reasons, it is given to brides at their weddings. The beryl was believed dire-gifted for a bride by Dante Rossetti in his ballad Rose Mary, and this belief in a lucky stone as an ill-omen is contrasted to those reported by Camillo Leonardi who wrote about the beryl as Pliny had, except he said, "It renders the Bearer of it cheerful; preserves and increases Conjugal Love." Beryl was reported by him to kindle fire when rolled in a ball and was regarded as the Stone of the Seer and Mystic by modern sources; its inclusion of water was thought to be especially useful to those with Scorpio in their chart

Claravoyants may want to use beryl because the crystal was reported by John Aubrey to have tinctures of red, by which one may see visions. Why red rather than blue is unknown. The beryl he described as a perfect sphere at least one inch in diameter and set in silver was attached a ten inch handle. The device of his reports was called a Brille. Dante Rossetti wrote about the beryl, saying "With shuddering light twas stirred and strewn / Like the cloud nest of the wading Moon / Freaked it was as the bubble’s ball / Rainbow hued through a misty pull / like the middle light of a waterfall" After being haunted by the spirits within, Rose Mary destroys the beryl with a sword. So it must be said, as a variety of beryl, aquamarine was thought to protect married people from slander; it was also used as an amulet against idleness, sickness in mariners, as well as a talisman to sharpen the intellect. In deed, aquamarine and beryl are good for finding something blue.

A 17th-century artifact described as a Brille.

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Pliny the Elder was an Italian historian who died near Pompeii in 79AD. His books on natural history were used throughout the Middle Ages as a referrence and compliation of knowledge. As Western sceince emerged from the medieval period, mistakes were discovered in his compiling of information and these were based on errors in reading original authors. His Natural History has since been credited as the first encyclopedia.

Camillus Leonardus was an Italian astronomer, mineralogist, and physician. Although the topics of his works mainly deal with the occult power of gems and their engraved imgaes, he also created astronomical tables verifying the position of fixed stars and published astrological rules for the adminstration of drugs.